Secrets of the Darkest Art
by Rumour of an Alchemist
Summary: One shot. Hermione Granger considered it a good idea, after reading 'Secrets of the Darkest Art', to get a better understanding of the enemy's tools... Warning! Horror. (Contains reference to a cold-blooded murder.) This story is rated 'T'. (Author Notes expanded 14th July, 2016, and 31st July, 2016.)


(Author Notes revised, 14th July, 2016 & 31st July, 2016)

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: The following scene occurs, chronologically, at some point during the equivalent in this universe of the 'The Ghoul in Pyjamas' chapter of _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_. Hermione is at The Burrow, and has just finished briefing Harry and Ron on how she came by a number of books which contained information about horcruxes (by summoning them from Albus Dumbledore's office, as in canon, at the end of the just-finished school year) and has summarised for Harry and Ron most of the information which she read in those books about horcruxes. In that context, this scene involves Hermione reflecting on recent events, not all of which she's mentioned (or intends to mention) to Ron and Harry, which took place between the end of the school year and Hermione arriving at The Burrow. Hermione is in the process of diverging in character from her canon counterpart...

Further Note: This story is a one-shot.

Warning! This story is rated 'T' and is identified as 'horror'.

* * *

"…And _that_ , is all that _Secrets of the Darkest Art_ has to say about horcruxes. Apart from how to make them, which you two _really_ don't want to know." Hermione told Ron and Harry with a shudder.

It wasn't _all_ that Hermione knew about horcruxes, though, by any means.

She hadn't been able to stop herself; she'd had to _test_ what _Secrets of the Darkest Art_ had had to say.

Ideally, she would have liked to have gotten hold of the likes of Draco Malfoy or Severus Snape, as unwilling volunteers to be killed to assist her in trying out the process of splitting one's soul – but neither had been available – and after a great deal of soul-searching (oh the irony of that phrase!) Hermione had concluded that Lavender Brown was probably the person that the world could manage the most easily without if there weren't an _actual_ dark wizard conveniently available for Hermione to sacrifice. That decision had had _everything_ to do with Lavender being an empty-headed, appearance-obsessed, airhead, Hermione had told herself at the time – and several times since – and _nothing at all_ to do with any residual jealousy that Hermione retained from the school year just past and that unfortunate phase when Lavender had ensnared Ron's attention…

And after Hermione had made her horcrux, and had stood there, clutching it, and looking down at Lavender's body, and trying to work out if and _how_ she felt any different, she had _thought_ about trying to pull her own soul back together with an act of remorse.

But _then_ she'd concluded, of course, that that would cheapen the whole experiment (and the sacrifice of Lavender, whose body and disappearance Hermione was now going to have to cover up anyway) and that possessing a horcrux might be an invaluable advantage to Hermione, in the coming action against Voldemort…

That had all taken place a few days ago, just after Hermione had taken the _much more difficult_ action of making her own parents forget her and think that they were two entirely different people, before sending them off to Australia so that they'd be out of the way of any Death Eaters. What Hermione had done with killing Lavender, had been positively easy by comparison.

Of course, _now_ Hermione was about to go off hunting for Voldemort's remaining horcruxes, alongside Ron and Harry, and the first item that had gone into Hermione's beaded bag in preparation was her copy of _Hogwarts, a History_. It was Hermione's most precious and valuable possession, now, literally, and one only had to look at the mistakes that Voldemort had made to see that leaving a horcrux lying around, willy-nilly, was just _asking_ for trouble. And at spare moments during their forthcoming quest, Hermione intended to expand her horcrux's protections and abilities, and to maybe give it some capability to interact with Ron and Harry, if the worst came to the worst, and something happened to her…

* * *

Author Notes:

In a lecture during _Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince_ Severus Snape warns of the Dark Arts being 'seductive'. In this universe, Hermione Granger has gone a bit too far and become tempted into making her own horcrux. And she can justify it to her own mind (she's trying to understand the really great evil of Voldemort and the tools which he's using; and in experimenting she _would_ have killed someone bad, who _deserves_ to die, if one had been available, but there wasn't one, so she selected someone that the world probably wouldn't miss much (to her mind) instead, and _no_ it had _nothing_ to do with residual jealousy or resentment about Lavender trying to steal Ron from Hermione [1] (or that's what this Hermione tells herself) and anyway, this is all for the _greater good_ in the shape of defeating Voldemort).

I assume that Hermione was able to think of a means of ensuring Lavender ended up in her clutches, and of doing so in a way that wouldn't obviously create an immediate trail to Hermione - after all Hermione has important work to do (stopping Voldemort) and she doesn't want to be distracted from it by having to explain to people (probably stupid people, much less intelligent than herself, and not able to see the _rightness_ of Hermione's arguments) that Lavender's death was necessary and that they really should stop bothering Hermione about it so that she can put an end to Voldemort.

Hermione intends to hold her hands up and admit to what she's done - and take any punishment coming - once Voldemort's been permanently dealt with. Unless some further crisis should come up in the interim, which Hermione is suited best to personally handle...

This story is a one-shot. I was interested in writing a short piece about a Hermione who has created a horcrux, and I have no thoughts at the time of writing of these notes about how this turn of events might impact the canon hunt for Voldemort's remaining horcruxes.

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Update to notes (14th July, 2016)

[1] Apparently I was too subtle/reliant upon some readers correctly interpreting innuendo here; what I should have made clear is that this version of Hermione's jealousy over Lavender's bid for Ron during the 1996-1997 school year is *EXACTLY* why - since there isn't a dark wizard available - Hermione killed Lavender instead to make her horcrux. This version of Hermione tries to persuade herself after-the-fact that it was actually for other reasons that she selected Lavender and that it wasn't because of jealousy, at all, but she's lying to herself.

Hermione also knows that she's very clever, believes that most other witches and wizards are very gullible and/or stupid, and is absolutely convinced that so long as she continues to be careful that the precautions (and misdirections) that she set up around Lavender's 'disappearance' (whatever they are/were) will make it wildly unlikely for anything to be traced back to Hermione by any witch or wizard.

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Update to notes (31st July, 2016)

Just to be absolutely clear, yes, Hermione made her copy of _Hogwarts, a History_ into her horcrux. Whatever the spells involved in the manufacture of a horcrux are, they are assumed sufficient to make her copy practically indestructible, anyway, (in much the same fashion as T.M. Riddle's diary) and given the occasions that canon Hermione quotes from it, to Ron and Harry, it's a book it seems to me that she knows well and values greatly.


End file.
